Levey Day School

Levey Day School, founded in 1952, is the only Jewish day school north of Boston. Like many independent schools, this small but mighty school in Portland, Maine came to a point where it needed to refresh its brand image to better align with the school’s current identity. It also needed marketing tools to help a recently hired Head of School implement an ambitious recruiting goal.

Fluent first participated in a brand ambassadorship process involving parents, members of the Board of Directors and administration. As a member of this committee, we contributed to the development of a new tagline that aligns with the school’s recently revamped logo: Love. Learn. Lead. That tagline aligns with Levey’s brand positioning: a school where inclusion, acts of loving kindness, and a focus on teaching students to be upstanders in a rapidly changing world, are at its core.

We then engaged parent ambassadors willing to tell their “why Levey” stories to develop a video marketing campaign. Interestingly, the school’s enrollment is made up of about 50% Jewish / 50% non-Jewish families, which opened up conversations with families of all faiths and backgrounds about what the Levey community means to their family, while communicating a parallel message of Levey’s genuinely inclusive culture. Fluent assisted the Head of School by guiding parents through a video pre-production process, then edited provided footage into four parents videos and one Head of School welcome video.

The videos have been at the center of a targeted Facebook advertising campaign over the course of Q4 2019 and into 2020. By targeting audience segments based on geography, cultural and religious interests, competitors and affinity brands, education and hobbies/interests, we have successfully generated nearly 43K impressions and 372 visits to the school’s website – all within a minimal budget allocation.

Initial video ads utilized parent pull-quotes to engage the audience and build brand awareness and presence for Levey Day School among a 15-mile radius of the school.

A video featuring the Head of School was then used to promote an upcoming open house which saw a notable lift in attendance.

Levey is well on its way to reaching its goal of growing its student population by school year 2021, all while raising brand awareness of this micro school’s unique and inclusive identity.